The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I recently went to the theater to see The Perks of Being a Wallflower.  Perks is one of my favorite novels of all time, so going into the film I was rather apprehensive that this movie would ruin one of my most beloved works of literature.  Or that it would become a Blockbuster hit and that people would start telling me how much they adored Perks, only to admit later that they'd seen the movie but never read the book.  I would have cried.

Luckily, The Perks of Being a Wallflower (the movie) rose above my aforementioned fears.  Perks was adapted for screenplay by Stephen Chbosky, the author of the original novel.  He also directed the film.  Knowing that the author of the original novel was such an integral part in the making of the film made me much more comfortable with the movie.  It was interesting to see how Stephen Chbosky envisioned his characters, even at times when the film differed from my own mental portrayals.

Perhaps my absolute favorite part of Perks, the movie, is a transition between scenes during Charlie's Christmas vacation.  The movie jumps from Charlie opening his mouth to accept communion to Charlie taking LSD at a party with his friends.  The shots themselves were beautiful and the juxtaposition of Charlie's home life against that of this social time with friends really highlighted what I believe to be an essential part of Charlie's character.  A moment like this, only possible through the medium of film, made me glad that this novel had been transformed for the big screen.